Linkin' Bridge featured in film about UK's first black football players

Louisville's favorite "America's Got Talent" contestants are at again. The vocal group Linkin' Bridge, who rose to stardom during season 11 of NBC's nationally televised talent competition, recently recorded the soundtrack for the documentary "Black in Blue."

The feature-length film is directed by Academy Award-winning filmmaker and Trinity High School graduate Paul Wagner and produced by former University of Kentucky quarterback and St. Xavier High School graduate Paul Karem. It tells the story of four University of Kentucky athletes — Nate Northington, Greg Page, Houston Hogg and Wilbur Hackett — who broke the color line in the Southeastern Conference in the 1960s.

"I am not sure many people are even aware that the first football players of color in the Southeastern Conference were University of Kentucky players," Karem said. "I didn't want my teammates' story to be forgotten, and my hope is his film will make this story more widely known."

In 1966, Kentucky assistant coach Homer Rice recruited Page, the first African-American signed to play football in the Southeastern Conference. Before that year, there were no athletes of color in any sport in the SEC.

Tragically, Page died in a football-related accident in the fall of 1967, which left Northington as the first African-American to take to the field and play in the SEC.

"It was a night game in Mississippi and there was an unbelievable amount of tension in the air in that stadium," remembers Karem. "We didn't win the game but we changed the SEC forever."

Since then, tens of thousands of African-American athletes have followed in their footsteps.

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“The first black faces seen on football fields in the SEC were wearing Kentucky uniforms. There’s no other way to state it. Before we’re done with this, it’s my hope that every coach in every sport and every student-athlete at that school knows about it and it will be my hope that a lot of the students and faculty population know about it,” Karem told Courier Journal in a previous interview.

For Linkin' Bridge member Montre Davis, a western Louisville native, being "a part of this story and movie is an honor for us. We recorded a lot of spirituals for the movie and performed our version of 'My Old Kentucky Home.'"

Karem was impressed by the group's professionalism and perfectionism in the recording studio.

"They would sing a track and I would think, 'Hey that was great,'" remembers Karem, "but they'd want to do it again. It was amazing watching them and how hard they worked to get it just right."

As the producer of the film, Karem watched it before Linkin' Bridge's music was added and again afterward.

"I have to tell you it was like eating a bologna sandwich before the music and then dining on a fine filet mignon after their tracks were added," said Karmen. "The guys' vocals give this film so much emotion. They are just amazing."

Linkin' Bridge has changed members since the group originally appeared on NBC. Today, the a cappella quartet includes Davis, Big Rome Kimbrough, China Lacy and Elliott Nichols. Nichols joined Linkin' Bridge in November 2018 after Ekoe Alexanda left the group.

Davis said Linkin' Bridge is two songs away from finishing its first album, and while no release date is set, he hopes fans will take the time to watch "Black in Blue."

"I sat there in my seat during the premiere screening of the film and was brought to tears," he said. "To be a part of such an important story is an honor."